STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — Playing basketball was an activity that 13-year-old Jamoure Harrell loved.
The South Beach resident dreamt of one day playing in the NBA.
So it was not unusual that on the afternoon of May 19, the boy was playing his favorite sport at Rev. Dr. Maggie Howard Playground in Stapleton, the park near his school. It was during this seemingly normal day that Harrell was shot and fatally wounded just before 4 p.m.
His family has set up a GoFundMe to help with medical bills accrued after the shooting.
Harrell is remembered in the fundraiser as a “smart” and “sweet” child, who was set to graduate the eighth grade from The Eagle Academy in Stapleton, with honors at the end of the school year.
The boy loved “telling jokes and could make a whole room light up with just a smile,” according to the GoFundMe.
According to an obituary posted on the Stradford Funeral Home website, a funeral service for the boy will be held June 8 at 6 p.m. at First Central Baptist Church in Stapleton.
COMMUNITY REACTION
On Friday, Staten Island interfaith leaders, school officials and a number of community-based organizations gathered in front of Dreyfus Intermediate School (I.S. 49) in Stapleton near the site where Harrell was shot to hold a peace rally.
The group had a singular message: There needs to be more done to address gun violence in North Shore communities.
As some speakers put it, they want a “smoke-free” summer.
“What I mean by smoke-free, I’m using a vernacular that we shouldn’t make violence,” said Rev. Dale Smith of Central Family Life Center in Stapleton. “The only smoke we should be having this summer is from barbecue.”
The frightening incident also sparked conversations and impassioned pleas for more resources such as community centers on the North Shore to help quell the gun violence.
Social media could also be playing a role in today’s violence, Rev. Antoinnette R. Donegan of Central Family Life Center, Stapleton, reasoned. “The emotional intelligence is not there,” she said. “You have a generation where all they know is the phone. They do not know how to articulate their emotions.”
Parents also spoke to the Advance/SILive.com about their shared feelings of uneasiness and fear for the safety of their own children, and grief surrounding the shooting of Harrell.
“I am in the process of moving, although I love the school (PS 78) and the teachers,” the parent of a student at the school told the Advance/SILive.com. “It’s terrible and always something disheartening. I’m always worrying. Gunshots, screaming; it does damage the kids.”
HORROR UNFOLDED
Police previously said two suspects in ski masks opened fire in the Stapleton park, striking Harrell as he tried to flee the violence. A motive for the attack remains unclear.
“There was a bunch of kids in the park,” said Mike Perry, a city-commissioned violence interruptor with True2Life Staten Island. He arrived within minutes of the shooting, in time to see emergency responders perform CPR on the young victim. “This [was] tough bro.”
A 16-year-old has since been arrested and charged with murder in connection to Harrell’s homicide.
The male suspect, whose name has not been released due to his age, is also charged with two counts of assault, criminal use of a firearm and menacing, according to an NYPD statement.
The case is still under investigation.
—
RELATED COVERAGE: Jamoure Harrell
>> ‘Too many lives depend on it.’ Staten Island leaders plead for more resources to fight gun violence.
>> NYPD: Suspect, 16, charged with murder in playground shooting of Staten Island boy, 13
>> Source: Teen in custody in connection with fatal shooting of boy, 13, on Staten Island
>> NYPD identifies boy, 13, who was shot in head at Staten Island playground
>> Source: Boy, 13, shot in Staten Island playground is brain dead
>> ‘It’s bad’: New details emerge in shooting of 13-year-old at Staten Island playground
>> Teen shot in head on Staten Island field; police searching for suspects
Ad Choices